DOT rethinks timing of Strawberry Hill Avenue bridge overhaul

Published 7:42 pm, Wednesday, December 6, 2017

NORWALK — Local officials made some headway this week on helping Norwalk residents, businesses and motorists avert a perfect storm of major construction projects.

On Monday, Norwalk Director of Public Works Bruce Chimento and Principal Engineer Lisa Burns went to the Connecticut Department of Transportation headquarters in Newington and successfully made their case for the department to alter its schedule for overhauling the Strawberry Hill Avenue Bridge over Interstate 95.

“We were granted to have that bridge separated out from the I-95 project so that we would move it forward,” Chimento told the Common Council’s Public Works Committee at City Hall on Tuesday evening. “They weren’t coordinating and the Walk Bridge (project) was using Strawberry Hill as a major bypass and detour, and you can’t do that when the bridge is under construction.”

The DOT plans to begin replacing the Walk Bridge over the Norwalk River in 2019. The larger $1 billion project will upgrade tracks and signals, replace the rail bridges over East Avenue and Fort Point Street, and rehabilitate the rail bridge over Osborne Avenue.

The DOT had envisioned replacing the Strawberry Hill Avenue bridge superstructure as part of its $30 million plan to resurface I-95 and reconstruct its center median between Exit 16 in Norwalk and Exit 17 in Westport. After hearing from Norwalk public works officials, they’ve rethought the sequencing.

“We have agreed to separate the Strawberry Hill Ave. Bridge project from Project 102-295 (Median Reconstruction and Resurfacing of I-95 from Exit 16 in Norwalk to Exit 17 in Westport),” DOT spokesman Judd Everhart in wrote in an email Wednesday.

The Strawberry Hill Avenue Bridge project will replace the bridge superstructure to increase vertical clearance to 16 feet 3 inches to comply with current design standards. The bridge’s existing abutments will remain but undergo some reconstruction to provide the additional clearance and thus reduce the chance of the bridge being struck by oversize vehicles travelling along the highway, according to the DOT.

“Work would begin in 2019 and be completed in 2020,” Everhart wrote. “This will take place prior to the commencement of major activities under Project No. 102-295, as well as many of the most impactful aspects of the WALK Railroad Bridge Replacement Project.”

Once a final schedule has been set for the Strawberry Hill Avenue Bridge project, he continued, the DOT will work with the city and schedule a public meeting to inform residents and other stakeholders about the project details.

“The Department will continue to work with all parties as necessary to achieve a safe, effective, and expeditious solution to these issues,” Everhart wrote.

As for Strawberry Hill Avenue, the DOT currently anticipates staging the bridge overhaul in a manner that provides one lane of traffic in both the north and southbound directions at all times.

“The existing traffic signals along Strawberry Hill Avenue at Norden Place and Beacon Street will be temporarily modified during construction as necessary to handle traffic flows and pedestrian traffic will be maintained,” Everhart wrote. “In its final condition, the new bridge will replicate the existing lane and sidewalk configuration along Strawberry Hill Avenue.”